The U.S. is a democracy and each person can cast a vote. However, their votes and voices are often drowned out by special interest groups and political influence. Our nation is at a point in its history where it must decide between two futures that will have a great impact on our lives as we know it. Nothing stays the same forever and success and failure is highly depending on our ability to compromise and work together as a single people with a shared sense of purpose. Any organization, whether on a corporate or a national level, we cannot avoid moving through the stages of change.
New Political Norms Forming:
According to the 1965 paper by entitled Developmental Sequence in Small Groups go through stages of forming, storming, norming and performing. Later Dr. Tucker added dissolution/adjourning to his findings. We have come through an era of hyper politics and the pendulum swings a little more in the direction of bi-partisanship as people ponder the best path forward. National leadership must start working together to solve problems or otherwise face increased risks in ineffective legislation and dysfunctional engagement that could lead to national decline. It would be great if we re-norm and OUT-perform.
Senator Mitch McConnel States, "It is time for Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House to find consensus on COVID relief before the holidays. We hope our Democrat counterparts share our sense of urgency."(DeMarche, Dec. 2014, para 2). From the language and tone perspective you can see he is seeking a more collaborative approach and encouraging the other party to engage as well. You may also gain a hint that the speaker is aware of the significance of not being part of a package deal.Language influences how we frame our arguments (combative or collaborative) and creates a perspective that influence national discussions. With more collaborative mannerisms you will also find encourage more problem solving networks versus those that lead to increase combativeness (Focus on connecting versus disconnecting ideas). You can learn a little more about this in the article "Neuroscience and Collaboration: Understanding the Brain for Better People Management" (Gordon, 2017).
Power in Proposals:
We cannot ponder the changes unless we first propose them. After they are proposed we go through a serious of compromises or rejections. A proposal will of course not be accepted if they are narrowly focused on the needs of a single sect of supporters. Thus, we must work together so as to select and own our collective fate; whether good or bad. The power of proposals can be used as a first to propose influence that leads the conversation and focuses more as a governing power on solving problems. One may also find that their popularity rises during a time of change as bi-partisan and well thought out proposals have a higher rate of success that leads to re-election.
Power can come from proposals! Consider a study entitled The Power of Compromise. Proposal Power, Partisanship, and Public Support in International Bargaining. The study comes to some interesting conclusions, " the author finds attitudes toward compromise are conditioned by the ideology of the audience and leader"(). The study compares reactions and approval ratings based on certain leadership behaviors. I wouldn't worry about which political party so much as the concept of how society is will to reward those who propose and compromise.The author states, "Drawing on theories of individuals’ core values, psychological processes, and partisanship, the author argues that leaders reduce or eliminate domestic public constraints by exercising proposal power and initiating compromises." (Brutger, 2020, para 1).
We are living in a complex world and its going to be increasingly so as the pandemic highlights our weaknesses We are also struggling with finding a viable future for ourselves and our nation that will likely have a significant impact on the success of the next generation. Success will require a different set of skills then what might have been needed in the past to secure national dominance. Yet in an era where technology is rapidly changing and nations must earn their spot they must find better solutions than others (Why diversity of thought is important). Success will depend in part on adaptive forming, storming, norming, performing and hopefully not adjourning (That depends on finding a renewed sense of commitment to our core national mission and settlement on how to achieve it) stages.
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